And on the topic of China's water problems; It makes it so they can't at all exploit their tantalizingly large shale gas reserves in the North West of the country, which would go a long way toward alleviating their current pollution/energy crisis. Their Sichuan province gas reserves can't easily be tapped either because doing so can cause tremors in a highly populated region that is especially vulnerable to earthquakes, has suffered much from seismic activity in the past and whose locals have been kicking up a storm lately about fracking effects. These difficulties are mitigated somewhat by their relative lack of environmental red tape compared to Western countries, which can speed up the green-lighting and progress of any extraction projects. But for a number of reasons, they'll be mostly stuck with dirty coal for the foreseeable future when it comes to energy and a domestic source of hydrocarbons; With hydro and nuclear assisting with the electricity generation side of the equation.

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firewall/restrictions inhibits innovation and cultural soft power

China's cultural soft power is complete garbage. Any contemporary Chinese art I like eventually turns out to be Taiwanese/Hong Kong. I guess you can't suppress one aspect of your citizens lives without indirectly suppressing the whole. Stifle speech and independent thinking and it drags down their creativity too. Their mega-conglomerates can buy up all the foreign entertainment studios they want, but then the prime movers of the industry will still have to be imported. And they're not willing to take the risk of loosening their grip long enough to allow more far-reaching imaginative endeavors. A real shame.